


The Morning After

by galaxysoup



Category: Saiyuki
Genre: Angst and Humor, Episode Tag, Hurt/Comfort
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-11-18
Updated: 2011-11-18
Packaged: 2017-10-26 06:09:54
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,300
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/279601
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/galaxysoup/pseuds/galaxysoup
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>They’re a pretty sorry bunch by the time they stagger through Homura’s doorway and back into the Tower.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Morning After

**Author's Note:**

> WARNINGS: Well, it’s Saiyuki, which should probably be warning enough. Otherwise: language, violence, divine meddling.  
> SPOILERS: Takes place right after the first season finale.  
> AUTHOR’S NOTE: My approach to chi in this story would probably make Hakkai ask me what I’ve been smoking and if Gojyo can have some. It’s pretty much the life-force version of pseudo-science.
> 
> Crossposted to [Livejournal](http://galaxysoup.livejournal.com/20554.html#cutid1).

They’re a pretty sorry bunch by the time they stagger through Homura’s doorway and back into the Tower. Gojyo hurts in places he didn’t even know he owned, he’s been reduced to leaning on his shakujo for support, and he’s practically carrying Hakkai. The other two don’t look any better - even Goku looks worn out and they’re probably just going to have to burn what remains of their clothing. Sanzo’s once-white robe alone will send Hakkai into a quiet depression.

“We should probably try to stay here tonight,” Hakkai says with a ragged smile as they stop for breath. “I don’t know about you guys, but I’m not sure I feel up to traveling too far.”

They dismiss the top floor - it might technically be safe enough to sleep in but it’s also really fucking creepy. The throne room reeks so badly of ozone and smoke that even Sanzo gags, so that’s out. The banquet hall’s pretty much intact, and they pause in it long enough for some cursory first aid, but Goku starts whimpering when he sees the ruined food on the floor and none of them want to listen to him so they keep going.

They don’t even pause on the ground floor. Hakkai wasn’t exaggerating when he said the only way to stop the demon zombie army was to reduce them to molecules and it turns out that’s a pretty spectacularly messy process.

They stumble outside and stand for a moment, leaning up against each other and swaying slightly. Kougaiji and his gang are nowhere to be seen, which Gojyo can really only feel relieved about.

“All right,” Sanzo says finally, as if he’s had to drag the words forward from somewhere very far away. “I refuse to camp after that battle. Hakkai, how far’s the nearest town to the west?”

Gojyo scowls because seriously, Sanzo’s still going to insist on going west after the day they’ve had? But he’s too exhausted and too sore to argue, so he jostles Hakkai until he rouses himself enough to answer.

“About an hour, I think,” Hakkai mumbles into Gojyo’s shoulder, not even bothering to open his eyes. “Assuming Hakuryuu can transform.”

The little dragon _kyuus_ tiredly, but manages it.

“Gojyo, you drive,” Sanzo says, settling himself in the passenger seat and crossing his arms. “Put Hakkai in the back with Goku.”

Gojyo makes a mental note to bust Sanzo for his high-handedness later when he has enough energy for a decent shouting match, and does what he’s told. It’s easier for Sanzo to be an uptight controlling bastard when he’s got someone to boss around, after all, so it’s not like he can do the driving himself.

The next town is tiny and more than half-deserted, but there’s a place that’s willing to put up travelers. Looking as disreputable as they currently do, that’s frankly nothing short of a miracle.

“We’ve got a spare room,” the innkeeper says, eyeing them dubiously. “Only has two beds, though.”

“We’ll make do,” Gojyo says, because Hakkai’s in no shape to be the polite one and he’s pretty sure Sanzo’s only being quiet because he can’t decide who to go off on first.

By unspoken agreement, they deposit Hakkai on one of the beds (a little less gently than Hakkai might appreciate if he were awake - for such a skinny bastard he sure gets heavy eventually) and have a half-hearted squabble over the other one.

“I’m shooting the first person who suggests I sleep on the floor,” Sanzo says dully.

“Sanzoooooo,” Goku whines and wow, the little monkey actually looks like he might cry. He hasn’t even mentioned food since they left the Tower, which turns out to be more worrying than Gojyo wants to admit. “I’m so tired and I hurt and we don’t even have extra blankets for the floor!”

Gojyo’s pretty keen on an actual bed himself, come to that. “Looks like we’re sharing, then,” he says. “Dibs on Hakkai.” It’ll be more crowded, sure, but Goku kicks. Judging from the dark look on Sanzo’s face he remembers that little fact, but Gojyo’s already wedged himself between Hakkai and the wall and Sanzo will have to go through Hakkai to get to him.

“If you wake me up I will shoot you, dump your lifeless body out the window, and go right back to sleep,” Sanzo growls at Goku.

“Okay,” Goku says, crawling onto the bed and collapsing facedown.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Gojyo regains consciousness sometime later. Enough time has passed that there’s sunlight streaming in through the room’s single grimy window, but he can’t really be sure if he’s been asleep for one night or several. From the silence in the rest of the room he figures he’s probably the first one to wake back up, and even though he’s still squashed up against Hakkai he takes a moment to lie still and enjoy it.

And then he realises Hakkai isn’t breathing, and nearly has an aneurysm.

“Sanzo!”

Hakkai’s still warm, which is maybe a relief and maybe not, but his skin’s an unhealthy grey color and his head lolls disturbingly when Gojyo shakes him.

“ _Sanzo!_ ”

The bullet hits the wall just above Gojyo’s head, which is probably more due to Sanzo still being half-asleep than any particular sense of mercy.

“I _told_ you assholes - “

“Sanzo, shut up, I think Hakkai’s dead!”

“What?” Sanzo kicks a still-sleeping Goku out of the way and struggles upright. At the foot of the bed, Hakuryuu wakes up with a concerned chirp as well. “How? He was fine last night - _tell_ me you thought to check for a pulse, you moron.”

Right, pulse. Shit. Gojyo presses his fingers to Hakkai’s neck and then, in desperation, puts his ear against Hakkai’s chest.

“Sanzo?” Goku mumbles sleepily. “What’s up? Is something wrong with Hakkai?”

“Shut up, monkey,” Gojyo says, not even bothering to put any bite into it. There - _yes_. Hakkai’s heartbeat is faint but audible, and now that he’s in close enough contact he can feel the slight rise and fall of Hakkai breathing.

“His heart’s beating,” he says, sitting back with relief. “Barely, but it’s there. And he’s still breathing a little.”

Sanzo’s eyes narrow. “How badly did he overuse his chi last night, Gojyo?”

Gojyo’s heart sinks. “A lot. He was in demon form when he took out the zombie army, but he looked pretty wiped afterwards and he followed it up by going head-to-head with Shien on his own - “

From where he’s hovering concernedly over Hakkai, Hakuryuu pauses to give an indignant chirp.

“ - with Hakuryuu’s help, and then we went halfsies on Zenon. And then we went and found you guys, so... I’d say he went _way_ further than usual.”

“Shit,” Sanzo says sourly. “Fucking perfect.”

“Is Hakkai going to die?” Goku says, voice trembling.

“Fuck if I know,” Sanzo says, scowling. “I doubt there’s a doctor in this dump and there certainly isn’t anyone who knows anything about replenishing chi. I know a little about it as a fighting style but Hakkai’s an unusual case so I doubt it applies. I’ve got nothing.”

“So, what, we just have to sit here and wait for him to die or not?”

Sanzo’s silent for a long moment. “Get up, Goku. We’re going for food,” he says finally, and stalks out.

Goku hesitates worriedly. “Gojyo - “

“Go with Sanzo, monkey,” Gojyo says. “I’ll keep an eye on Hakkai. Just try not to eat everything before you get back, huh?”

Goku rallies a little. “I’ll eat as much as I want, I’m _starving_. And don’t call me ‘monkey’.”

Gojyo waits until they’re definitely gone, and then sits himself on the edge of the bed and rests his hand over Hakkai’s heart. He’s never really thought that much about Hakkai’s fighting style - it works, and that’s always been enough for him. He’s seen that using his chi can wear Hakkai out pretty fast, but it never really occurred to him that Hakkai could overuse it by enough to freaking kill himself.

It probably should have, now that he thinks about it. Hakkai’s never been the type of person to let his own well-being get in the way of what needs to be done, and in any case Gojyo's long suspected that Hakkai is secretly crazy as fuck to boot.

By the time Sanzo and Goku return with the food, Gojyo’s set up camp in the room’s only chair and gone through half a pack of cigarettes. Hakkai’s still alive but he very definitely does not look any better.

“Do you think he’d get stronger if we fed him?” Goku asks.

“ _How_ , idiot?” Sanzo snaps. “He can’t chew and if we try to give him liquid he’ll just choke.”

They lapse into a tense silence, staring at anything but Hakkai or each other. Goku’s eating at half-speed, which on anyone else would count as picking at his food. Sanzo and Gojyo chain-smoke with grin determination.

“All right, this doom and gloom is just _boring_ ,” the Merciful Goddess says from where she’s standing by the window. “You know that only irritates me,” she adds when Sanzo fires several shots at her out of reflex.

Gojyo is so far done with gods right now it isn’t even funny. “Well, excuse us for not being entertaining,” he says bitterly.

The Goddess sighs in exasperation. “Tenpou was at least always eccentric. You guys are really just depressing without him.”

“Well, then do something about it,” Sanzo glares.

“It _does_ give me an idea,” the Goddess says, smiling in a really worrying way, and swoops down and kisses Gojyo right on the lips.

Gojyo’s initial reaction of _Shit, not another transfusion_ , fades pretty quickly into _Decent kisser, though_. Actually, she’s more than decent - he feels like he’s on fire, like there’s too much of him to fit into his own skin. It’s a little bit painful.

The Goddess leans back, smirking. “All right, then, Kenren, get to it.”

Gojyo blinks slowly - everything feels like it’s _glowing_ , this is _not normal_ \- and tries to focus. “What?”

The smirk gets wider. “Pass it on, of course. Your friend’s pretty low on chi there.”

Okay, so she’s overloaded him with chi, that sort of explains -

Wait.

“Pass it on?” She can’t possibly mean what he thinks she means.

“This is so fucking ridiculous,” Sanzo moans, covering his face with one hand.

“Chop chop,” the Goddess says. “That much chi is going to start to burn, you know.”

It already has. He’s gone past uncomfortable to feeling like he’s going to split apart - he needs to get rid of this crap, and soon. He gives the bed a speculative look - he doesn’t particularly _want_ to kiss Hakkai, but if he’s going to have to kiss another guy then Hakkai _is_ probably going to be the most understanding one about it.

He could do without the audience, though.

“Just do it already,” Sanzo says, pointedly looking away. “If I have to deal with you two idiots by myself for any longer I’m just going to shoot everybody.”

Oh, well - it’s not like Gojyo’s got much of a choice, and it _is_ for a good cause. He stumbles to the bed and crashes down, uncoordinated in a way that would be embarrassing if he wasn’t legitimately afraid his face was about to melt off. If he gives himself time to think he’s pretty sure he’ll panic, so he just leans in and presses his mouth against Hakkai’s.

For a moment it doesn’t feel like anything’s happening, and he gets as far as _You manipulative bitch_ in his head when the fiery feeling explodes out of him in a great gasping rush. He feels dizzily like he’s got two bodies, or like maybe he’s the one lying down instead of Hakkai and Hakkai is suddenly the one leaning over him but he’s also leaning over himself _at the same time_ , and just before he can really freak out about it the world snaps back into place and he slithers gracelessly off the bed to land on his ass.

He stares blankly at the far wall, chest heaving. He feels weak and drained, but loose and weirdly _clean_ like he’s just had a really terrific orgasm, and _shit_ if this is what Hakkai feels like every time he uses his chi then Gojyo can totally understand why he never seems to want to get laid.

“Seriously?” The Goddess pouts. “It would have killed you to slip him a little tongue? You guys are no fun.” She vanishes just ahead of Sanzo’s bullet, still sulking.

“Why does my mouth taste like an ashtray?” Hakkai croaks.

“Hakkai, you’re alive!” Goku whoops, vaulting over Gojyo to land with a thump on the bed next to Hakkai. Hakuryuu squeaks in alarm and flees. “That’s because Gojyo totally just made out with you.”

“Did not,” Gojyo mumbles, still trying to sort out where his body is.

“The Allegedly Merciful Goddess was here,” Sanzo says, which actually does explain everything. “If you ever pull this crap again I’m going to kill you myself as soon as you come back to life, asshole.”

“Fair enough,” Hakkai says. “Gojyo, are you all right?”

Gojyo feels Hakkai’s hand brush the top of his head. It’s tingly. “I feel...” he trails off. Why has he never noticed before how weirdly his tongue fits in his mouth? “Um. Kind of stoned.”

Hakkai’s laugh sounds like.. something nice. Maybe bubbles, or a really nice blanket. Yeah.

“You aren’t mad?” Goku asks.

“Flattered, really,” Hakkai says, and Gojyo can hear the smile in his voice. “I had no idea my life was worth Gojyo’s pride.”

Gojyo decides this gravity thing is a little too confusing right now, and slumps over. “Floor’s actually not bad,” he tells the others. “Kind of squirmy.”

“And his dignity,” Hakkai amends.


End file.
